We made it! I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the 89 people on Kickstarter who helped fund the post-production of SOURLANDS, the 103 people who helped fund the production phase earlier in the year, and many others who have contributed to the project in countless ways. It feels wonderful this afternoon to know that I can eat, sleep and drink SOURLANDS for the next several months and not have to worry about fundraising.

One of the most interesting things that happened during this fundraising campaign is that someone pledged $1. I remember opening up my email and thinking “Why did someone just give me a dollar?”

I Googled around and soon discovered that the $1 came from a man who is giving $1 every single day of 2012 to a different Kickstarter project and, just as importantly, helping promote each of these projects on his website.

This has inspired me to do the same. Once a week for at least the next year, I’m going to pledge $5 to a documentary film project on Kickstarter that looks interesting. I’ll also help promote each of these projects on the Sourlands blog (http://www.sourlands.com/blog.html) and the Sourlands Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Sourlands)

For my first donations, I cruised Kickstarter last night and chose two projects that both look compelling. The first is a film titled “The End of a Marvelous Era.” A group of San Francisco State University film school graduates plan to travel across the country and document what’s left of the Big Band music scene in this country. I especially liked that the mom of one of the filmmakers left a really nice message for him on the comments page:

“I'm stirred by your talent and inspired by your commitment. We simply MUST make this project happen! I love you, Son. Mom”

The second film I donated to is titled “Of Two Minds.” It documents the highs and lows of people living with bipolar disorder – as over 5 million Americans do. The trailer is intense but very well done.

GASLAND director Josh Fox was arrested yesterday while attempting to film a House Science subcommittee hearing on the EPA’s investigation into groundwater contamination in Pavillion, Wyo., potentially caused by hydraulic fracturing:

According to the article, Josh had gone through the proper channels to try to get official credentials to be there to film... and was denied. Also, there were no other broadcast journalists in the room.

I like this quote in the article from Josh:

“They came to us and said, ‘You’re in violation of House rules.’ I told them, ‘You’re in violation of the rules of the United States of America, which is the Constitution.”